John Locke

John Locke was an English philosopher and one of the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment. Locke attended Westminster School and Oxford in London, studying medicine. Locke then became involved in politics and in the Whig party in particular, and began establishing in writing his arguments against absolute monarchy and other ideas. In 1683, Locke fled to the Netherlands under suspicion of involvement in the Rye House plot, and upon returning to England in 1688, published his most notable works, including Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the Two Treatises of Civil Government, and A Letter Concerning Toleration. He never married or bore children.